JANUARY 2023
Event Report:
Roaring 20’s Prohibition Era Dinner
What’s New
Let’s welcome Board Member, Jason Sullivan as our new webmaster. Bob Kossow was the Council Bluffs Branch webmaster for many years. Bob has been traveling more, and asked Jason if he would like to be the webmaster. We were having a glitch in uploading the photos to the iwfs.org web site, but Jason has resolved this. We should be caught up on photo downloads now. The webmaster also updates other things, like the upcoming events and the Bluffs Gazette. If you ever wonder where an event is because you lost your invitation, it should be on the iwfs.org website. Log in, click on Branches, then Council Bluffs. Once on our branch site, click on what you are interested in. Thanks for stepping up, Jason! Our November event was interesting. We were to arrive at Barnato with 1920’s attire. Partially inspired by a 20’s era speakeasy, after quaffing, we entered the dining room through the kitchen. The phrase, ‘Speakeasy’ originates from a term that bartenders used where people needed to, “speak easy” (quietly), when ordering at the bar in order to not draw attention to the prohibited act of buying alcohol. In order to gain access to these illicit bars, a password, specific handshake or secret knock many times was required. Most of the wine during dinner came from California wineries that were in business when Prohibition came into effect on January 16, 2020. This was a fun event, where, despite being after Halloween, we got to costume up.
In your email, a PDF will be sent along with the issuu.com link. The advantage of issuu.com is that you can see both right and left pages, like a paper magazine. Our PDF only lets you view one page at a time. You can also access the Branch Recipe file by clicking: https://issuu.com/omahapublications/docs/iwfs_cb_council_bluffs_recipes.
VODKA VS. WINE
A person with a basement full of vodka: Alcoholic. A person with a basement full of wine: Classy Box plaque discovered in Rhonda & Mike Wilke’s basement! Classy!
Event Report: Roaring 20’s Prohibition Era Dinner
Written by Tom Murnan, Photos by Tom Murnan
We have had a Prohibition inspired event before, but this one had a special twist. The inspiration of Matthew Brown, 3rd level Somm at V.Mertz, was supposed to have given us our wine tutoring, but he was ill that night. Matt’s idea was to use only those California wineries that survived Prohibition. So all the dinner wines and one quaffer came from the survivors of America’s biggest political blunder, Prohibition, which made criminals out of ordinary citizens and witnessed an explosion of alcohol related crime. From January 17, 1920 to December 5th, 1933, only sacramental wine for the Catholic Church could be legally made in the United States. The wine industry in California was pretty small anyway, but Prohibition almost killed it. Here are some of the survivors who provided our wine for the event. From Matt’s notes. Schramsberg Vineyards sparkling wines. One of Napa’s earliest wineries dating back to the 1800s. They were the first to build tunnels and cellars in Napa into Diamond Mountain. This is where Robert Louis Stevenson stayed when he visited Napa. The winery changed hands many times during Prohibition but kept growing grapes for table use and “jams”. The winery was revived in the mid 1900’s and started making sparkling wine. Famously this is the sparkling wine Nixon took to China and has been served by every President at state dinners since. Freemark Abbey Chardonnay. At the onset of Prohibition in 1929, the winery was forced to cease operations, except for the production of sacramental wine for the Catholic Church. This Chardonnay famously was one of the wines to best the Burgundies at the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting. It is considered an iconic American Chardonnay. Beaulieu Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay. Beaulieu obtained a contract to supply sacramental wine to churches nationwide. The demand for such wine increased dramatically during the years of Prohibition and the winery repeatedly expanded. By the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, production had grown to over 1 million gallons per year. Louis Martini Monte Rosso Gnarly Vine Zinfandel. Martini was founded in 1922 producing sacramental wines and “jams” for home winemaking. The family purchased the Monte Rosso estate on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas in the 1930’s. Robert Biale Vineyards Black Chicken Zinfandel 2019. The ranch was born out of Prohibition. Shortly after repeal, the father was killed working his job at a rock quarry. At age 14 Aldo started illegally producing Zinfandel and would secretly sell it customers of the produce ranch. Their phone line was a party line, so to avoid the coppers coming down on them, customers would order a “black chicken,” code for a jug of Zinfandel.” Inglenook was founded in 1879 by Captain Gustave Niebaum. In 1887, the iconic winery buildings were constructed and exist to this day. State of the art at the time, the winery won many medals in competitions and was considered the gold standard of Napa wines for years. Beringer Vineyards was founded in 1876, the oldest continuously operated winery in Napa. Like Schramsberg, they built cellars into the mountain side behind the winery. The Rhine House was built in 1883. Sold to Nestle in 1971. the winery has been resold 3 more times.
2023
UPCOMING COUNCIL BLUFFS BRANCH EVENTS
JAN
22 FEB
25
LE VOLTAIRE
Hearty Red Dinner Event producers: Hipples & Hayes
A PERFECT VALENTINE
Spencer’s for Steaks and Chops Perfect Matches of food & wine Joint event with the Omaha Branch Event Producers: Michelle & Hasan Hyder
HOSTING AN EVENT?
Let us know when, where and a little bit about what’s going on! We would love to include YOUR event on the calendar! Email details to: iwfs.councilbluffs@yahoo.com